On and off the court, Toronto’s Nakissa Koomalsingh – who’s better known as Keesa K – recently named one of our People to Watch in 2024 and part of our Power 60 List, is rewriting the rules of female basketball with her game-changing non-profit, HoopQueens. Not only does the Toronto-based HoopQueens feature Canada’s first paid women’s basketball league(!), it offers a safe space and an inclusive network for women to develop their skills and explore their passion for the game. While there’s still a long road ahead on the equality front relative to men’s sports, Keesa continues to create space and impactful opportunities to inspire the next generation to make major moves in the future of women’s basketball. And she’s just getting started.
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A sisterhood in sport
It was her mom’s love of basketball that piqued Keesa’s interest in the sport as a young girl growing up in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). “I loved watching basketball with my mom; she was a big Detroit Pistons fan,” says Keesa. “So, that was our time to bond. I got to stay up really late to watch basketball games and I loved that time with her. I think that’s where I kind of fell in love with watching basketball, and then I eventually wanted to start playing it. My sister’s boyfriend took me to this Mumba basketball camp and I just fell in love with basketball then. It’s been a very long time. I’m almost 29 this year, and I’ve been playing basketball since about grade five.”
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“I found a sisterhood in basketball,”
Nakissa “Keesa” Koomalsingh, founder of HoopQueens
Growing up, Keesa spent time with her sister and many cousins, but says she had few friends – until she found basketball. “I found a sisterhood in basketball,” says Keesa. “I found that my teammates and I shared commonalities when I started playing club basketball. It was in the west end of the city and I travelled to get there, but I found it so worthwhile because of the connections I formed with some of the girls. While we were different, we were also so alike, and really bonded over the sport of basketball. We went through a lot, obviously, as a team of sisters; we won games together and we lost games together. So, we were all on that rollercoaster together and I loved how that made me feel. It definitely gave me the confidence to be my own person and shaped who I am.”
These bonds have become lifelong; Keesa is still friends with these childhood teammates that shaped her youth. “Basketball has really kind of been the foundation of how my people skills developed,” says Keesa. “Those girls made me feel so welcomed and just part of their sisterhood, and I’m looking to do the same with HoopQueens.” It’s safe to say she already is (but more on that later).
From the court to campus
Keesa’s skill on the court would ultimately lead to a basketball scholarship to Prince Edward Island’s Holland College. The milestone move, however, wasn’t without its challenges. “It was a very different environment [than Toronto], obviously, and I faced a lot of challenges, a lot of barriers, and a lot of racism,” says Keesa. “My environment completely turned upside down and it was a character development moment for me. Those years really taught me about the real-world life and how I can use basketball to kind of escape and help me navigate through these difficulties and challenges like those that I experienced out east.”
Like many of us, however, Keesa says she wouldn’t change the struggle because – as cliché as it may sound – it made her the person she is today. Keesa found her way back to Ontario, this time to University of Nipissing, where she finished her degree with a business finance undergrad and an entrepreneurial finance certificate. While enriching, her years as a varsity athlete weren’t without their physical challenges either, most notably, a debilitating ACL injury that would ultimately end her basketball career.
“My injury taught me a whole new realm of what basketball means to me and how I can navigate through anything – basically teaching myself how to walk again and teaching myself how to play basketball in a different way,” says Keesa. “I look at that as a parable of life, because obviously things don’t go the way we want all the time in life, and just figuring out how to pivot and figuring out to navigate through those barriers and challenges is something that I compare to navigating my injury. So, I’ve really taken all of those transferable skills from what I learned throughout those university years to real-world life.”
Another challenge that comes with being a varsity athlete is the financial element. The reality is that it’s difficult to hold down a job when you’re clocking in so many hours on the court. “I couldn’t really sustain a job, because I had to train; I had to be the best person for my team,” says Keesa. “I had to give so much time and effort into basketball and that’s one thing that I kind of hated about being trying to be a full-time varsity athlete. You just didn’t have the opportunity to make money and to have an actual job. So, once I finished school in 2019, I graduated and I was honestly over basketball; I got into an accounting job and bookkeeping job.”
HoopQueens: ‘Reigning’ in a new era
Being in the corporate world didn’t mean that Keesa Koomalsingh kissed basketball goodbye completely. Experiencing a void, she started to coach a group of girls. “I found a new kind of purpose within the year of 2019-2020,” she recalls. “I really found it was a weird identity crisis that I was going through and I didn’t know who I was outside of being a varsity basketball player. So, just waking up and going to a 9-5 job was really hard for me mentally, because I felt I didn’t have a purpose. I didn’t have a thing that I was striving for and training for, and I went through a lot of identity issues.”
So, she went all in and started coaching young women with the Canada Elite rep team. The incubator program offers support and skill development both on and off the court. Coaching and mentoring young female basketball players offered a renewed sense of purpose. But Keesa realized she could also make a much bigger change.
“There were a lot of gaps in the system…”
Nakissa “Keesa” Koomalsingh, founder of HoopQueens
“I identified that there were many areas of issues that needed to be worked on in terms of the Canadian sports system and the Canadian basketball space,” she says. “There were a lot of gaps in the system and there wasn’t much representation. There were few young Black women in decision-making roles for the next generation of young basketball players, and I wanted to be that. I had the ability and I knew I had the skills to do it, so I started HoopQueens in 2020. And yeah, it just kind of went viral from there.”
HoopQueens essentially creates a safe space and an enriching network for female athletes. It began as a semipro basketball league for women – the country’s first paid league for women (yes, it’s worth mentioning that twice) – and now also includes year-round programming like free workshops, a youth skill development program, scrimmages, and group runs. The organization even has a scholarship program for athletes. Front and centre to HoopQueens is inclusion and skill development. Oh, and flipping the script on the historically male-dominated sport.
The next play
“Every year, we’re coming out bigger and better and stronger,” says Nakissa “Keesa” Koomalsingh of HoopQueens. “So, this year we’ve decided to spice things up by adding in a Montreal team into our league. There’s now four teams of eight to ten girls on each team, and all-female coaches, all-female officials, and all-female scorekeepers. We’re making sure that we have that representation in Montreal because there’s a lot of great basketball players that come out of Montreal and we wanted to ensure that we showcase their talent. So, that’s what’s in store for Season Three We’re looking forward to it.”
In general, the future of HoopQueens involves creating as many opportunities as possible for young women in basketball – both in the sport and in life. “We want to continue to create those pathways and those opportunities for them to get jobs and opportunities to excel in whatever role or capacity they chose,” says Keesa. “I hope we continue to get that respect and get the financial backing and resources that we need in order to succeed and execute in whatever industry and whatever way what we would like. At this point, we’ve proven that, with the little resources that people give us, we can do an immense amount of work and create bigger outputs than a lot of the other things that are going on in the sports world.”
In its short lifespan, HoopQueens has become a nationally celebrated success story, making headlines as Keesa and her team of HoopQueens continue to smash glass ceilings with each winning shot.
“For me, I’m most proud of the impact we’re having,” says Keesa. “I mean, obviously the accolades and the recognition and all the things happening with HoopQueens is amazing; it’s great and I’m so grateful for it. But, the impact for me is what I feel the most proud of because nothing compares to when a little girl comes up to you and is in awe of your presence because of the impact that you’re making in just how inspired I make them feel. So, I think the impact of just giving the girls access and having that representation for them is the thing that I’m most proud of. Because yeah, I didn’t have that growing up for myself and, being the change that I wanted to see and successfully fulfilling that for other people – that, I’m super proud of.”
While there’s still a lot of room for positive change in the sport, women’s basketball is having a major moment and finally starting to get the respect – and attention – these talented athletes deserve.
“We want corporate companies and our male allies to support us and put their money where their mouth is,” says Keesa, frankly. “As for us, we get it done – no ifs, ands, or buts about it; we figure out a way no matter what. I think that’s the common denominator between us women that are leading these initiatives.”
Check back next Monday, April 15th for the next special edition cover story featuring the next of our People to Watch 2024 #VIBEPower60 series, Jasmeet “JusReign” Raina.
Credits
Words by Erin Davis with support of editorial team. Photography by: Nick Merzetti; Creative/Fashion Direction, and Co-Produced by: Steven Branco; Styled and Co-produced by: Sharad Mohan; Retouching and Gaffer: Alejandro Silva Cortes; Makeup by: Angela Lee; Hair by: Duyen Huynh; BTS/PA: Mursal Rahman and Samir Mourani. Shot in studio at: Pie in the Sky Studios, Studio 1; Vintage vehicle: 1979, Chevrolet, Caprice Classic/courtesy of: Jason Miller @sitonfashion. Men’s wardrobe curated from: Harry Rosen.
Special thank you to our valued presenting sponsor: CITIZEN Watches
